Reinforce the Role of Parents As Their Child’s First Teacher.  Without the support of extended families and robust communities, many new and expecting parents feel isolated and unprepared even though they are their children's most important teachers.  Low-income parents, particularly, face hurdles just to provide the necessities of life for their children. There are a number of model programs that provide voluntary intensive home-visiting and parent education.  Lack of funding in Illinois leaves current home-visiting programs only able to reach 1 of 7 kids in poverty ages 0-3. Reaching more at-risk families with these proven programs will cut child abuse and neglect significantly.

A.            Prevent child abuse and neglect and help more parents to promote healthy child development and nurture social-emotional development-key components of early learning-by rejecting the proposed cut to evidenced-based home visiting programs in the Illinois Department of Human Services.  If enacted, these programs, including Healthy Families Illinois and Parents Too Soon, will face a two-year reduction of about 19 percent in state support. FY 2011 budget request:  Reject the proposed $1.65 million cut imposed on home visiting programs in the IDHS budget and work to restore the $1.8 million cut in the FY 2010 budget (total of $3.45 million).